Problem Solving For Beginners
by Engineered for Your Safety
Summary: Everyone in Eureka has a weakness for puzzles. Zoe Carter realizes that she is no exception.


Problem-Solving For Beginners

Summary: Every resident of Eureka has a weakness for puzzles. Zoe Carter realizes that she is no exception.

Spoilers: Assume anything already aired for the series so far

Pairings: All canon couples, hints of Zoe/Fargo

Rating: T

Notes: 1) This isn't my first fanfic but it is the first I've published. So, it's un-betaed.

2) This starts the day after "I'll Be Seeing You" and continues through the fall ending sometime the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is basically my filler story to show what happens between IBSY and the next episode.

3) The Zoe/Fargo is an "unintended" side effect of the realizations that I wanted Zoe to have in this story. As I wrote, I suddenly saw this possibility. It really gave an additional depth and complexity to Zoe's thoughts so ta-da Zoe & Fargo.

4) Finally, I thought Zoe would be quite a difficult character for me to write. She, however, turned out to be a breeze. Fargo on the other hand was like pulling teeth. After writing this story, I have a great deal more respect for Neil Grayston & the Eureka writers in their portrayal of Dr. Douglas Fargo. I would consider it an act of kindness if you please assume any OOC behavior is attributable to Fargo being significantly affected by the finding himself in charge of GD and the responsibilities associated with his new job. Some of that will be pursued in this story. I am considering doing a sequel to this showing the fallout of the second half of season four from Fargo's perspective. If you decide to review the story, please let me know if you would be interested in more of the Fargo presented here.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Eureka or its characters. I'm only using them for a short while as a hopefully entertaining nonprofit mental exercise.

* * *

The first time she'd picked up Chinese at Harvard, Zoe Carter burnt her fingers. Eureka so spoiled her. God, she missed Vince's disposable thermally insulated to-go boxes. The bag of dumplings she currently carried held more technology that any lab at Harvard. _It's so good to be home._ She dodged a frantic group of GD scientists racing down the hall. _Such as it is._

Zane's lab sparkled, not that she'd ever tell him that. At least, Director Fargo finally wised up and gave him his own space. Zane had been so centered and quiet in their phone calls this semester. And focused on Zoe. With her & Lucas drifting apart, a bit of home (who happened to be really hot) was just the pick-me up this college girl needed.

"Zane?"

"Zane." Unlike Zoe's query, this person spoke Zane's name in a quietly desperate and very familiar female tone. As she heard the voice, Zoe came around the lab tables seeing a camera feed from inside the room's test chamber. Her eyes goggled.

_What about Jo?_ Her father's seemingly random question when he found out about her crush on Zane was not so random after all. In the chamber Zane (not her Zane, damnit) had Jo pinned up against a wall. They were kissing the life out of one another. _At least I know why I've never been able to get more than a hug out of Eureka's one man speed dating service. _What about Jo? Jo who told her to "go for it", who let her date a guy she apparently really liked…._And when the hell did that happen? _

"Zane, stop." Jo broke away, trying to catch her breath.

"Lupo, we both know that if you wanted me to stop, you could stop me in a second." Zane leaned again only to drop suddenly to the floor with a painful groan. Jo gave the ceiling a thoughtful look. "You're right."

Zoe, who had seen instant ice ages and rogue combat droids, marveled at the surreal sight of Jo appearing more rumpled than a sprawled-on-the-floor Zane. He blinked up at Jo who was straightening her half-undone jacket, a genuine grin on his face. "It's strange how much I enjoyed that."

"It appears we're both gluttons for punishment." Jo replied as Zane picked himself up, careful to keep away from her.

"Why are you so sure that I wasn't referring to the kiss?"

Somehow, inexplicably, Jo managed to look both condescending and vulnerable. Whatever she was trying to say, Zane understood. His expression changed. Zoe had lived in Eureka long enough to recognize certain looks typical of all super-geniuses. Zane looked at Jo like she was the most astonishing and rewarding puzzle he could ever solve. Like he would stop at nothing to understand her. Like doing so would be the greatest thing he'd ever done. _I hate it when my Dad is right._ Zoe realized she wasn't as upset about this as she should be but in that moment, she found herself wanting a puzzle-faced nerd of her own.

On screen, Zane's voice echoed with hurt. "Ah yes, your unfair advantage." Deciding something, he closed in on Jo again. Unlike before, Jo shrank away but, tellingly, not out of his reach. "I thought maybe memory wipe at first, either you five or me. That would explain you looking at me like I put sand in your favorite gun. And how weird you all have acted since Founder's Day. But it doesn't explain my grandmother's ring. It doesn't explain your reaction to my proposal and throwing the ring at me like you did."_ HOLY CRAP._

"There wasn't any proposal!" Jo screamed this like every word hurt.

"Jo, I'd only give that ring to someone if I meant it. You had the ring, so I must have meant it. Although it turns out this ring isn't the only one. My ring is still in a lock-box under my bed. And this," He held out a ring to Jo, who shrank away from his hand "- Is an atomically perfect copy. There's only one explanation for that. You and I, and I'm guessing at least four other people, all know what that is." Zane glared at her expectantly. _What's wrong with her? Why would Jo be that afraid of people finding out she & Zane were together?_

Jo closed her eyes. "Zane, please don't-"

He scoffed, cutting her off. "After all the shit you put me through about following the rules, you go barreling through this one! Do you have any idea what could happen to you? What were you thinking?"

"It was an accident!" Jo harshly ground out.

"It's Eureka." Clearly Zane thought there was more to the story.

"No. I mean, it just happened and now we're stuck here." Zoe was so awestruck by what she was witnessing that she almost missed Zane's softly voiced reply. "As opposed to back there? With me?"

Jo shut her eyes, unsuccessfully trying to keep tears in. "There is no more back there Zane. It's gone. He's gone."

Zane hands now cradled Jo's face, voice unexpectedly gentle. "No, Jo-Jo. I'm not."

Aside from being nonsensical, it wasn't the right thing to say. Although Zoe's knowledge of Jo was not as complete as she had thought before walking into this lab, she could tell that Jo looked seconds away from shattering. _Yikes!_ Zoe barely had time to snatch up her bag of dumplings and duck behind a pillar before Jo and Zane burst out of the test chamber.

"Jo-" Zane faltered at her look. Zoe watched their reflections in the panes of the lab window. Jo's face stated in no uncertain terms, 'Not out here'. Zane surprisingly followed her lead. Even if they had never gotten along, both Jo and Zane always treated GD like their own personal playground. In fact, now that Zoe thought about it, the reason they probably clashed so much is because they had incredibly different ideas of what "playground" meant. Zoe's mind whirred with doomsday possibilities which could result in either being so fearful in their chosen domain.

Jo's upper body tilted. Her line of sight going past Zane to the computer monitors. "Zane? Were the cameras in the chamber on?"

"Oh shit!" He rushed over to the desk. "Don't worry. Um, it appears the magnetic brackets supporting my equipment weren't properly shielded. All recording devices in the vicinity have been unfortunately wiped by the magnetic fields. I will need a member of Security to confirm the data loss is total." As he spoke, Zane's fingers skittered over the keyboard. Jo came up behind him, watching him work._ I am in the freaking twilight zone. _Now Jo was doing the super-genius puzzle-love-of-my-life look.

Jo's hand rose and softly brushed Zane's arm. He froze. "Thank you." Zane turned to face her, hitting a single key as he did so. Every monitor in the lab went black. In the window, Zoe saw them grinning at each other.

Zane donned his best sheepish expression. "Security Director Lupo, I believe it is protocol for the responsible scientist to be fully debriefed by the Security Chief about the circumstances of a significant data loss incident."

"Following protocol Zane?" Jo began walking toward the door, confident Zane would follow. As they exited the lab, Zoe heard Zane's reply. "When it's worth it."

Zoe sat there a while. Too many questions. F_irstly, how long had Zane and Jo been….whatever it is they were. What had happened Founder's Day? Who else was involved? Why didn't Jo tell her?_ Zoe had liked Zane but, seeing him with Jo, she realized that (a) she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell and (b) she wasn't upset enough about it to have really like-liked him. Maybe she was lonelier at Harvard than she realized. In a daze, she stood almost walking off without the bag of dumplings she'd brought to share with Zane.

Zoe was so lost in her own thoughts, she almost collided with someone upon exiting the lab. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. Um, hi Dr. Parrish."

He raised a disdainful eyebrow. _When I grow up to be a fully-trained Eureka super-genius I am totally going to rock at doing that._ It suddenly occurred to Zoe that Zane had mentioned Dr. Parrish several times in their phone-calls.

"So, Dr. Parrish could I ask you something?" She fiddled with the tag of the take-out bag as he stared at her.

"Perhaps." Her eyes rolled before she could stop herself.

"Um, how often is Jo in Zane's lab?" Both Parrish's eyebrows raised at that one, effectively answering her question. He realized it too as his face quickly blanked. "Ah, thanks."

He eyed her suspiciously. "You're not going to cry or anything?"

She huffed. "Did everyone know?" Zoe put up her hand to stop his reply. "Stupid question. No, I'm actually fine. Surprisingly fine. It's just….Why didn't Jo tell me? Or my Dad? Well, he kinda tried to in his wacky Dad way. But I would have gotten over it if she'd just let me know that he was taken. I thought she was my friend – wait a minute, why am I telling you this?"

"I have no idea." With that, Dr. Parrish decided the conversation no longer merited his presence. He stepped around her and headed down the hall. Some irrational problem-solving impulse prompted Zoe to call out after him.

"Anything interesting happen on Founder's Day?" Parrish froze mid-step. Without turning around, he replied. "To find valuable answers in science, one must ask the right questions in the right way under the right circumstances." With that, Dr. Parrish disappeared around the corner.

_A-HA!_ Zoe's heart pumped. As she strolled toward the GD exit, it occurred to Zoe that Eureka had ruined her for normal life. Because this feeling of an error in reality to be understood, solved, corrected or contained - this was exactly was she had been missing at Harvard. Whatever happened Founder's Day, it had hurt Jo, Zane and at least four other people. Not experiments run amuck or wacky semi-amoral scientists, nothing was allowed to hurt her town or her friends. _Game on._

* * *

Now that she really wanted to speak to Jo, Zoe realized how much she'd been ignored since arriving back in Eureka. Zoe had been so caught up in Zane and homework and being here, she'd missed how Jo disappeared into her room whenever they were alone in the house together. Jo wasn't rude about it but it still hurt a little. They'd always been able talk, even back when she was Felon-Spice. Thankfully, the Carters (and Jo) lived in SARAH, a smart and sneaky house who owed Zoe a few favors.

Prior to living in Eureka, Zoe would never have imagined that during her college years she would be helping her AI house sneak a boyfriend past her dad in the morning. Zoe sighed._ It's a sad world when an AI house has better dating luck than me._ Nevertheless, said house was quite grateful and had promised to have a life-signs detector malfunction during Jo's next query to determine if it was safe for her to come downstairs.

Zoe ducked into the 'solarium', pretending to be listening to a recorded class lecture on her ipod. Jo's surprisingly loud footsteps echoed down the stairs. Yet another indicator Zoe had missed previously. Jo's military training meant that she usually had a problem "accidentally" sneaking up on unsuspecting scientists who refused to turn in their reports in a timely manner. If Jo was upset enough to forget such a favored part of her training, then this thing with Zane and Founder's Day must have been super-serious. _I am the worst friend ever. _From behind a miniature orange tree, Zoe watched as Jo placed her order with SARAH.

"Oh, hey Jo!" Big, bad Special Forces Jo jumped about three feet into the air. Not the Zoe would ever tell, of course.

Jo sighed before turning around with a faintly strained grin. "Zoe, sorry. SARAH told me no one else was home."

SARAH's voice responded. "I am sorry Deputy Lupo. It appears that I have a fault in my life-signs systems. I will run a diagnostic and report any problems to Director Fargo. I will be off-line for the next half hour."

Zoe let the immediate silence linger, waiting for Jo to start a conversation. Before leaving for Harvard, Jo always prompted her for some girl talk. How are things with Lucas, Zoe? Where'd you get that fushia toenail polish, Zoe? Now, zippo. Jo looked like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world that sitting in a room with Zoe. Considering Zoe had (accidentally) dated her (mind-wiped?) fiancé, she tried to ignore the sting of her older sister in all but name treating her like a leper.

"So, the past few days we've barely visited. It's so weird that we talked more before you lived here." Zoe pointedly entered the kitchen, placing her bowl of soup on the counter. Considering how terrified Jo looked, Zoe almost felt bad. Almost.

"Yeah, um, so how are things" Jo gestured vaguely. "working out for you."

Zoe let her features mimic innocent incomprehension. "Things?" Fake light-bulb moment. "Oh, Zane. So over that. You'd never believe how much more interesting a person is on the phone than in real-life."

Now, Jo gave her a genuinely baffled look. "Dating Zane is boring?"

"Yeah. Weird right?"

Jo's dinner, which appeared to be soup as well, slid out of the kitchen panels with a pleasant beeping. Slightly more relaxed, Jo ate a few spoonfuls before going on. "How's Harvard? Carter said you looked happy there."

"I was." Jo's head came up. "I mean, I am. It's just." Zoe stirred her soup, thinking. "I think I missed Eureka. Everywhere else is just so…eh, you know."

That got Zoe an understanding nod. "Always something happing in Eureka."

"Exactly!" Zoe thought very carefully for a moment. "What's up with you?"

Jo's spoon faltered just so slightly before dipping down into her bowl. "What do you mean?"

"Any juicy news? Come on! I'm thousands of miles away; I need something to get me through those long nights in the library!"

Jo exhaled. "Yeah, um okay. Let's see." Giving Zoe a wide grin, she put her bowl down and whispered. "Do you know what happened to my house?"

Zoe scoffed. "Old news. Larry the moron blew up your house during a rocket race malfunction."

"But did you know that the malfunction was because Allison cheated to win the rocket race for Kevin?"

_Dad never tells me the good stuff. _Zoe's spoon dropped with a clang. "No way."

Jo nodded enigmatically. "Way. When Zane and I confronted Kevin about him cheating, she fessed up. Kevin was upset."

"Whoa. I'll bet." Zoe paused, opportunity knocking. "'Zane and I'? You actually worked together? Without killing one another?"

Her friend shifted uncomfortably. "He's not so bad." After thinking a moment, Jo added. "Besides –" Jo pants' pocket vibrated. She pulled out her phone before turning to Zoe apologetically, "It's Fargo. He's probably freaked out about a meeting tomorrow. Later, okay?"

Zoe waved her off. Jo's initial "Hello Fargo" creeped her out way more than it should. There was a little too much respect in Jo's tone. As far as Zoe knew, Jo thought Director Fargo was an egomaniacal waste of space.

"Hey Guys!" Her dad's voice both welcome and timely boomed through the living area.

"In here!" The sheriff bounded around the corner, giddy from his date. Zoe got a quick hug before he went to the fridge.

"So, how was it?" After dumping her dishes in the sink, Zoe sat on the counter gleefully enjoying her dad's exuberant recollections of his date with Awesome Allison of Awesomeland. After a couple minutes, he paused tilting his head at her. "This isn't weird for you is it?"

"You and Allison?" He nodded. "Please. I'm just pissed Kevin won the pool."

Her dad got his cop-face. "When did Kevin place his bet?"

"Ages ago, but Vince said he changed it recently. Wait a minute, you knew about the pool?"

Her dad donned a mock-offended look. "I'm not Sheriff for my stunning good looks."

"Ugh. Don't gloat Dad. It's not attractive."

He shrugged. "Ali doesn't mind."

"Ew! TMI Dad!"

Jack Carter snickered a little before getting serious again. "You're really okay with this?"

Zoe made sure to look him in eye. _No one and I mean no one made Dad as happy as Alison Blake. _"Yeah Dad. I'm great with it."

He took a drink of beer before continuing. "What about you? How are things with, um, Zane?"

"Ugh, so yesterday."

"What happened?"

Zoe thought for a split-second about answering truthfully. But she held herself back. If something did happen, something bad that separated Jo and Zane then her dad knew. Because there's no way he would have said "What about Jo?" when she mentioned liking Zane if he didn't. Plan B then. "Not the guy for me."

Her dad tried to look disappointed….tried and unapologetically failed. "Oh, sorry Zoe."

"Whatever. I'm just glad to be home."

"Hey, when I visited you were all 'Harvard Girl'. What happened?"

Zoe sighed before responding in a cheerfully sarcastic voice. "There's no place like Eureka."

He dad laughed softly into his beer bottle. "True." Something in his tone got Zoe's spidey-sense tingling. Anyone else and she would have missed it but this is her DAD. In that one word, he instantly reminded her of Jo's voice in the test everyone had their weaknesses, there were very few things in this universe which could simultaneously freak-out Jo, Zane and her dad. _Way worse than I thought._

"So, Jo's been telling me some of the news. All sorts of goodies. Got anything to add?"

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"How was Founder's Day?" Jack Carter launched into a riveting story involving parking tickets, robotic deputies and "special" water balloons. Zoe knew the story was true – Kevin had already briefed her on this one. But her father looked clearly relieved when she stopped asking about Founder's Day and changed to subject to "what happens when over-emotional robots go camping". Distraction or not, Zoe would be having words with Kevin later about the ethics of betting pools.

As she bantered with her Dad, a part of her (and not a small part) wondered. All the out of control experiments, the secrets & top-secrets and old projects becoming dangerous again, what could have possibly happened that scared everyone and messed Zane up so badly that he didn't remember proposing to his secret girlfriend that everyone thought he hated? Oh, and that apparently involved three other people? Time for an objective perspective. Zoe sent a quick text message before bed that night.

* * *

"Nope, Mom's been wacko too." As Kevin spoke around his mouthful of pancakes, Zoe's heart sank. They'd met at the older restaurant in town, "The Depot". While the food and variety didn't compare to "Café Diem", there was also no nosy Vincent around. She'd blurted out the whole story to Kevin, including her suspicions about his mom hoping that at some point something she said would be so ridiculous that he'd laugh and then she'd laugh and then she'd feel stupid, but in a super-relieved way. _No such luck. _Kevin blithely continued.

"Zane's right about Founder's Day. She came home from the Parade really freaked out, like barely let me out of the house freaked out. After, she was always touching and talking to me. All the time, Zoe." Kevin shuddered dramatically. "Dude, Jenna's the baby. The race though, that was the big what-the-hell moment. Mom's always, always been super strict about not falsifying your data. Experiments are like sacred to her and she screwed up mine? You know, I'm actually glad there's a reason. I just thought Mom had gone nutso."

"Kevin, how can you be happy about something which apparently freaked out your mom, my dad and Jo? And scared Zane into coloring inside the lines?"

He blinked. "Well, when you put it like that." Kevin thought a moment. "I could ask Mom if there have been any interesting experiments lately. She feels guilty enough that she might tell me something."

Zoe shook her head. "Jo said that it wasn't an experiment. That it just happened."

"This is Eureka Zoe! Things don't 'just happen'." Kevin punctuated that assertion with an emphatic flourish of his silverware.

Zoe fiddled with her napkin before answering. "You didn't hear Jo. She was way too emotional to lie to Zane."

"Jo and Zane. What the hell?"

"I know!" Thinking on it for the last twenty-four hours, Zoe didn't know how she missed that one. Especially since in retrospect, it seemed really obvious. There's no way Zane would have tolerated being in the GD lock-up all those times unless he was getting something else out of it. Not to mention how much Jo enjoyed putting him there.

Kevin fidgeted in his seat. "Are you all right?" Zoe mock-glared. "Why does everyone think this was such a big deal? I'm fine. Just pissed that my Dad tried to tell me but Jo didn't." She waved a hand dismissively. "We need to find out who else is affected by whatever it was, maybe that will tell us when it happe-"

"Henry & Fargo." Kevin sounded one-hundred percent certain. "Miss Grace has been hanging around a lot. I heard her and Mom talking about how 'Henry isn't the man she married' and 'what is she supposed to do?'. They shut-up real quick when they notice I'm around too."

"Okay, what about Director Fargo?"

"During the rocket thing, he was nice to me. Like 'jumped in front of General Mansfield to protect me from getting yelled at' nice."

"Um, that's not him at all."

"Exactly." Kevin tucked back into his pancakes. Zoe managed a few more bites, trying to come up with some way to detangle the facts so that she could fix this before the weekend was up. Eureka mysteries are way too much trouble to attempt to solve from several thousand miles away. They were hard enough when you were in town.

"So, if I understand things correctly, five of the most important people in Eureka were subject to some sort of mind-altering experiment which turned them into pod-people."

"No." Kevin rolled his eyes at her ignorance. "Pod-people don't have emotions. If your dad looks anything like my mom right now, we can rule out a lack of emotions."

Zoe shared a mutual 'OMG-are-parents-are-gross' shudder with Kevin but nodded. "Not to mention Jo and Zane in the test chamber. I felt like I was watching 'As The Quantum Field Fluctuates' or something." Kevin snorted. "So, a mind-altering experiment which affected emotions but did not negate them. Oh, and Zane was somehow affected differently so he doesn't remember proposing to Jo?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Kevin stared at the table for a moment. Zoe let him think. There's no point in calling in the super-genius cavalry of you don't let them do what you called them in to do. "Something different happened to Zane, something that would replicate the rings on an atomic scale."

"And wipe his memories of Jo? Only Jo? What could do both like that?" Zoe mentally ran through a list of memory devices she'd remembered over the years.

"Wait a minute, what if Zane never had any memories of Jo? What if what happened gave the five memories that never actually occurred? Zane has his original memories and the ring copying was, like a separate thing."

"I don't know. He said Jo had the ring but he kept the original locked up. How would she even know it existed? And, he really did not seem to mind the whole being engaged to Jo thing."

"Aside from the kissing?" Kevin didn't look as grossed out at the prospect as Zoe expected. _Hmmmmm, something to discuss next trip home._

"Yeah, he looked pretty hurt that she wanted to pretend it didn't happen."

"Okay, maybe Zane had memories implanted, maybe he had them taken but he or Jo also had to do something else in order to get to exactly alike rings."

"Most of the nano-fabrication stuff' is classified. Darnit. There's been tons of memory manipulation events over the years. With all the information out there free of government clearances, we really should focus on that. Considering how common memory incidents are, why does this one have to be so secret?" Zoe pulled a pen and notepad out of her bag, scratching down the possibilities.

Kevin shrugged. "I dunno. What we need is some way to find out what GD has been doing with memories lately."

Zoe paused in writing. "Oh, I already got that. I need to use your Mom though."

"Go ahead." Kevin gave a surprisingly benevolent gesture with his fork.

"Cool. Since I'm pre-med, I'll ask her if I can study some of their less-classified medical work as like an extra-credit project or something."

"Great, for the more classified projects we need someone who has clearance, who isn't one of the five and who we trust to not lie to us just because we're kids." Zoe froze.

"Kevin, I may know just the person."

* * *

"I am afraid that you children have vastly overestimated your persuasive abilities."

Zoe and Kevin had corralled Dr. Parrish in his lab. Well, more like snuck in and tried to convince him not to throw them out. Kevin leaned away from the powerful aura of indignant scientist that Dr. Parrish exuded at the moment. Zoe leaned in for the kill.

"Director Fargo, Dr. Blake, my Dad, Security Chief Lupo and Mayor Deacon. Founder's Day. Zane shared your concerns until oh, about thirty-six hours ago, when he suddenly is exceptionally uninterested in any possible Founder's Day hijinks which means-"

"Even they weren't meeting in his lab every spare moment, Lupo is involved." Parrish continued at their surprised looks. "Donovan only really clams up when it involves Lupo. He's been like that as long as I've known him."

"So they were together before!" Zoe pointed a triumphant finger at Kevin. In her glee, she decided to ignore the look between Kevin and Dr. Parrish which clearly said 'women *eyerolls*'.

Parrish magnanimously changed the subject. "I can get you into a couple medical experiments. Nothing military."

"Nothing with Zane."

"I thought you said you were fine." Kevin now leaned away from her and any possible chance he would be exposed to feminine crying. Dr. Parrish, the big baby, was little better. "Ugh. I'm fine guys. It's just embarrassing that everyone knew. I'd rather not be around him for a while."

"Dude, you Carters aren't known for subtlety."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't start investigating any conspiracies then Mister Cheats-On-Betting-Pools-Based-On-Super-Private-Talks-With-My-Dad."

Kevin sheepishly grinned. "I guess cannot be trusted join any conspiracy investigations can I, Doctor Too-Important-To-Be-Seen-With-You-Scrappy-Kids?"

They turned to Dr. Parrish who intoned dramatically, "My reputation would suffer so." His head tilted towards Zoe. "Which experiments do you want to sit in on before you go back?"

"Anything with Fargo. Everyone else was affected negatively. By all accounts, he's better." Dr. Parrish, who Zoe knew hated the Director with the fiery power of a thousand fusion reactors, nodded. "Why is he different?"

"That Miss Carter is a very interesting question." For some reason, Dr. Parrish's response caused Zoe's toe to curl.

* * *

At Dr. Parrish's suggestion, she attended a non-DoD medical demonstration session. Not fancy or ground-breaking (which is why Alison let her in) but everyone she wanted to observe was there. Including, inexplicably General Mansfield.

Kevin's suspicion of Fargo was instantly confirmed when he greeted Zoe warmly, informing her that she could ask all the questions she wanted. That was not the only anomaly either. Everyone in Eureka knew that General Mansfield owned Director Fargo. Anytime the General visited Fargo never left his side, always eager to please his patron. Now, Fargo gave the General a single acknowledging nod and then proceeded to ignore him to focus on the demonstrations.

Zoe had her notebook out, trying to balance presentation notes with her observations of subjects likely affected by the events of Founder's Day. She would have to thank Dr. Parrish for informing her of this demonstration because the GD work was actually pretty interesting. Although Zoe made sure to call her Dr. Blake in fronts of others, Alison included her by prompting her for questions and the occasional bit of "obvious" explanation. Zoe had surprised herself a couple of times by not just understanding what she was seeing but being able to ask questions which required the research team to huddle & deliberate before responding.

What surprised her even more was the warm back and forth between Director Fargo, Alison and the research teams. Far from the tyrannical and patronizing jackass Zoe remembered, he complimented various researchers when they presented good work and, even when offering corrective advice, was awkwardly polite about it. The only time some of his old personality came back was when a scientist presented less than stellar results with no explanation as to what went wrong. Even then, it was by no means as harsh as Zoe knew Fargo could be.

"Did you enjoy the demonstration?" Alison surprised her. Zoe had been staring at her notebook, trying to sort all this new information in her head. She blinked. "Yeah. Thanks for letting me come. This was really cool."

Behind Alison, she saw Fargo speak to the General. Their body language entirely contradicted past experience. Fargo had his arms crossed, looking displeased and unyielding. As the General spoke, his face became increasingly agitated. Fargo said something. The General paused mid-rant, giving Fargo an assessing look. Fargo, without moving a muscle, gave off a distinctly triumphant vibe. Giving a nod and a wave, the General stormed off. Fargo, seemingly unconcerned, moved to speak to one of the medical researchers. Fargo gestured emphatically with his hands as he spoke to the researcher but even at this distance Zoe could tell his attitude was supportive and up-beat.

Zoe caught Alison staring at her staring at Fargo. Personally, she thought Alison looked a bit twitchy about it. "Oh, sorry. I was just spaced-out, thinking about this skin grafting lattice," Zoe thumped the open page of her notebook with her pencil. "It's given me a couple ideas for this paper we have in Cellular Biology."

Alison smiled, relaxing as she did so. "Well, I'm glad." She turned towards her desk's keyboard before continuing. "Your dad is really proud of you." Zoe shifted. "He missed you this summer. And I know his recent visit may have freaked you out."

"He told you about that?" Zoe got a 'you're not stupid so stop it' look for that one. Alison

continued. "This summer was hard for him." From the look on Alison's face, Zoe thought it wasn't an easy summer for her either. "I promise I'll do my best to talk him out of surprise Harvard field trips in the future but Zoe, parents don't always handle their kids growing up that gracefully."

Zoe thought of rocket races and Alison's new pictures of Kevin holding Jenna on her desk. Of nostalgic fathers and invisible cats. "Thanks Alison."

Alison reached across the desk to take her hand. "You know that I'm proud of you too right?"

Zoe gave a self-deprecating shrug. "Long way from Felon-Spice, huh?"

The hand holding hers tightened, causing Zoe to look back up. "Zoe, you've saved this town. More than once. I don't ever want to hear you doubting yourself like that or, I'll come to Harvard myself." Before Zoe could stop herself, she was up off her stool and hugging Alison.

Zoe whispered. "I'm really glad Dad has you now."

"I'm pretty glad too." Alison's eyes were a little bright when they finally separated. As they did so, Zoe noticed that Fargo had finished his consultations. He had been waiting a discreet distance away. _Yet another anomaly. _Seeing that the moment had passed, he finally approached the two women.

"Ladies." He gave Alison a respectful nod before turning to Zoe. "I hope you liked our presentations, Zoe."

She blinked, trying to reconcile this man with the one she remembered. "Actually, yeah." _Maybe a little test is in order._ "Would it be alright if I attended a few more of these when I come to visit?"

Alison interjected with, "She wants to use the skin-grafting project for a class."

Fargo smiled at her widely, leaving Zoe a bit stunned. "No problem! In fact, while I can't let a copy of their report out of town, I can forward you an edited version of the project report's bibliography. It has a ton of publicly available papers which would really help you." Zoe hadn't thought it possible but Fargo looked like he was legitimately excited to help her. "There are a couple of interesting medical-research mailing lists I think you'd like. Nothing classified but you'd probably enjoy the diversion at Harvard."

"I have a couple of those as well." Alison shrugged at Zoe apologetically. "I don't know why I didn't think of that."

Zoe sniffed a little. "That would be great. Thank you." Even with Henry's recommendation, sometimes Zoe had a hard time reconciling herself with this town full of super-geniuses. She knew more than a few Eureka residents only tolerated her Dad as this idiot savant who just happened to be right sometimes. Prior to today, Zoe believed Fargo to be in that category. She knew exactly how awesome her dad was but still, she did not want to get the same treatment as Jack Carter's wise-cracking offspring. When she had decided on medical school, Zoe had made another decision: That she would earn a place in Eureka and not only as the sheriff's daughter. Two of the best minds in Eureka just offered her not merely the benefit of their connections but of their faith in her. Memory experiments gone awry or not, maybe coming home had been exactly what she needed.

Fargo's phone beeped. Whatever it was, he had apparently been expecting the call. He gave Alison a nod before turning to Zoe. "I have a surprise for you." Once again, excitement completely transformed his face. _Definitely not a pod person. _He gestured for her to follow, Alison waving her along but staying behind. As they walked out of the med-lab and down the hall, Fargo continued. "When Dr. Parrish asked about you attending some presentations, I realized, well, there was something that you just had to see." He paused, whispering to Zoe in a careful tone. "Just see though. No notes on this."

"Um, sure." She quickly tucked her notebook and pencil into her purse. Fargo remained still. "I'm sorry Zoe, but you need to turn off your phone too." She dug it out and made sure it was off. What could they be showing her? "This um, won't do anything crazy to me will it?"

"Crazy, in Eureka?" Fargo gave her a conspiratorial grin, making him look about ten years old. His eyes remained amused as he attempted to calm her. "No, this won't do anything. It's just –" He paused. "I thought you would appreciate a little inspiration for those long college nights." With that, Fargo was off, headed down the hall again. Zoe scrambled to keep up.

As they moved past labs and down a few more levels, Zoe didn't know what to think. Either she had been found out and they were disappearing her or Fargo was actually doing something top-secret (and nice!) for her. Frankly, Zoe did not know which option would freak her out more.

By the time Fargo's pace slowed, Zoe had no idea where in GD she was. If she was being disappeared, it would take Kevin and Dr. Parrish forever to rescue her. Still for a deserted & suspicious-looking hallway, it seemed in surprisingly tidy condition. Maybe she was safe.

The lab Fargo ducked into was not only clean and filled to the brim with equipment, but crowded. "Henry!" Zoe ran over to hug him, forgetting about Fargo's intentions. Over Henry's shoulder, Zoe saw Grace busy at a workstation as Fargo stopped next to her. Grace gave a head tilt in Zoe's direction. "Hey Zoe! It's okay she's here?" The last question was directed at Fargo who, once again without moving a muscle, managed to convey the answer. Grace nodded before resuming her work.

Zoe whispered to Henry, giving her head a jerk in Fargo's direction. "Has he been hanging out with Alison more?"

"More than usual?" Henry shrugged.

"Define usual." Zoe expected a grin back from Henry at that. Instead, he just looked uncomfortable for a moment before apparently deciding to change the subject. "Did Fargo tell you what we're here for?"

Zoe blinked at him. "You don't know?" Henry's mouth turned up at the corners as he answered sotto voice. "Well, someone didn't tell me anything."

Grace looked over her shoulder long enough to roll her eyes at them. "Only a moment longer."

Above them, a large screen suddenly filled with images. The part of Zoe's mind which had studied until 4am for her organic chemistry final identified what she was seeing. The rest of Zoe's mind could not believe it. "Is this a simulation?"

From what sounded like a great distance, Grace answered. "No. That is a live picture."

After all these years in Eureka, Zoe Carter felt pretty in-the-know when it came to technologies. Few cool toys surprised her anymore – at least, when they were working properly. _I love this town._ On screen, Zoe Carter watched proteins fold and dance and intertwine and somehow produce RNA, live. She didn't care what quantum processing thingamabob made it possible. The only thing that mattered was that her town was the one place on Earth where it was possible and she was allowed to see it.

Zoe finally pulled her eyes away, blinking for the first time in minutes. Henry and Grace were cuddled together near her workstation, both focusing rapturous expressions on the screen. She turned the other direction to find Fargo looking at her. He spoke first in a soft voice. "I'm glad you like it."

She opened her mouth to reply but found no words came except the only one worthy of this sight. "Eureka" she breathed, part thanks and part invocation. Fargo, paranoid immature Fargo who she had thought never understood anything, smiled. _Oh._ 'Eureka' wasn't a famous scientist or even a famous invention. They'd covered the historical implausibility of the Archimedes story at Tesla. No, the town took its name from somewhere else. From the Fargo pushing buttons just because they were there to Zane's insane "extracurricular projects" to even her Dad's sometimes barely concealed glee at finding out what experiment went awry today. This town was named for the joy taken in observing & manipulating a surprising universe. A tiny voice from inside Zoe pierced her swirling thoughts. _You don't belong in Eureka because you're smart Zoe. You belong because this is a feeling worth late nights at Harvard, summer internships filled with wacky GD high-jinks and, having now experienced it, you'll never give it up. __**Eureka. **_

Minutes, maybe hours passed, as she watched the building blocks of life happen. Sometime in there a chair appeared behind her and a surprisingly gentle hand nudged her down into it.

* * *

On one hand, Zoe wondered if Fargo had been suspicious and thought the pretty light show would distract her from digging further. Two months later, she still didn't know exactly why he had chosen to share that experience with her. But he had been true to his word about the mailing lists and bibliography. Her in-box overflowed with insights from some of the best medical minds in the world, a fair portion of which had wished her a hearty welcome when Fargo (via a musical and amusing gif file) had introduced her.

Nevertheless, what she had witnessed affected her. Zoe had already been doing well at Harvard. Not super-genius well but solid never-had-to-look-too-hard-for-a-study-partner-well which in Zoe's time at Tesla had come to define the true measure of her abilities. Now though, she excelled. Knowing exactly how awesome the light at the end of the tunnel was did wonders for her motivation. Unfortunately for Fargo's possible intent to distract, the experience had also focused her zeal to discover what exactly had gone wrong on Founder's Day and how to fix it.

Before leaving Eureka, Dr. Parrish had given her a small device to ensure "their Skyping would be as private as possible". He had also, in a shockingly shy tone, asked her how she liked her "tour of the classified labs". Testing a theory, Zoe repeated the town's name trying as well as she could to replicate that tone which Fargo had so clearly understood. Parrish gave her an assessing, and if Zoe read it right, impressed look before continuing. "The Director from before, he would not have –" Parrish stopped, oddly unsure. Zoe nodded anyway, finishing Parrish's thought. "It was just a name to him."

Two months and several late night Skype sessions later, here is the grand total sum of their knowledge. (1) "Something" happened to six people on Founder's Day: Jack Carter, Alison Blake, Henry Deacon, Jo Lupo, Zane Donovan and Douglas Fargo. (2) At least two other people likely knew what that "something" was: Grace Deacon and, inexplicably, recently redacted Eureka historian, Dr. Charles Grant. (3) They still couldn't state for certain if what happened positively or negatively affected Fargo.

While he did appear improved on the interpersonal front, Fargo was just as squirrelly as the others when Founder's Day was discussed. Additionally, he appeared just as accident prone and neurotic as ever. It was the last fact which pretty much ruled out the explanation of "GD bigwigs kidnap Fargo to reprogram his brain for the betterment of mankind and now feel really guilty about it". Sadly, between Kevin, Dr. Parrish and Zoe that was the least crazy idea they had thought up.

Zoe shook her head trying to focus on the now. A 'now' limited to Kevin's droning, and yet still clearly horrified, report on Alison's and her father's recent behavior. The only anomalies he could report prompted a great deal of blushing for Kevin and her as well as smirking from Dr. Parrish. "And that's all I got." Kevin sounded defeated. Dr. Parrish even looked, as much as he ever did, semi-disenchanted with their quest.

"Guys, we knew this wouldn't be easy. Dr. Parrish, can you get anything on why Dr. Grant left town?"

Parrish shook his head. "Beyond my clearance level. But, maybe we can cross reference sensor readings at GD both for Founder's Day and the day before Grant left town. There was some kind of accident just outside of Eureka. Grant was gone the next day."

"So this was his experiment?"

Parrish shook his head. "Dr. Grant arrived in Eureka just after Founder's Day."

Now, Kevin shook his head. "Nope. He arrived on Founder's Day." At their looks Kevin continued. "Mom and Jack mentioned him arriving that afternoon."

Zoe interjected. "Why would Fargo hire a town historian but have him show up too late to help with the biggest town-history event of the year?"

"That's not the right question."_ Ugh, Dr. Parrish's favorite words. _"The others changed sometime Founder's Day, but by Kevin's account of when his mom got home, it was all over by the afternoon. Which means whatever happened, happened early that day. Dr. Grant arrived that afternoon. Therefore, your question is a separate issue." _Damnit, I hate it when he's right. _Parrish continued. "Sometimes it is the most anomalous behavior that tells us the most useful information."

Zoe tilted her head. "You still think we should focus on Fargo?"

"His behavior shift has been the most significant. Perhaps those larger changes can help us identify trends in the others." Kevin nodded as Dr. Parrish spoke. Kevin paused when he turned to the screen displaying Zoe at Harvard. "Okay, tell us your bright idea."

Zoe's brow furrowed. "Bright idea?"

"Yeah, you had your Carter puzzle-solving face on. So tell us the plan, Oh Enlightened One." Kevin grinned at her but Zoe barely registered it. Considering what she had been thinking about Zane and Jo's "puzzle-faces" or even her Dad and Alison's looks at one another, the idea of her having a puzzle-face sorta ground the gears of her brain to a headache-inducing halt. "I do not have a puzzle face!"

"Yes you do." Kevin looked like she would be freaking out about the sky being blue next.

"When in deep thought, you do have a particular expression. It is a trait that you share with your father." Dr. Parrish's attempt to reassure merely revealed his massive inexperience with resolving emotional trauma.

"I do NOT! It's Fargo!" Zoe's horrified response was so loud it caused a slight feedback loop. _Deep, calming breaths._ The infusion of oxygen got her mind started again and damnit it all if she did not have a great idea. "Okay, we need more info on Fargo's mental state. He kept his word about sending me declassified project updates. Dr. Parrish, do you have any sort of evil-mastermind list of all the little things which annoy your boss?"

"Of course." Dr. Parrish began typing on his laptop. "I need to edit it a bit. You're not cleared for certain items but you'll have it by tomorrow."

"Then that's when I will start Operation 'Annoy Fargo For Science'. Kevin, you need to find out about Dr. Grant. Even if he didn't cause this problem, he's involved."

Kevin nodded but did not look enthused. "Jack doesn't like talking about Grant." Kevin fidgeted a bit before adding. "They didn't get along."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Wow, my dad didn't like someone who was dating Alison? Really? Find out what you can." She moved on to Dr. Parrish. "Aside from your assistance in annoying Fargo, could you do that sensor reading thing you mentioned earlier and possibly cross-reference the readings with any recent experiments?"

"Any experiments?" Zoe gave herself a mental pat on the back. She'd earned a non-disdainful eyebrow raise so the meeting wasn't a total loss.

"Maybe we've been too focused on memories. Maybe it wasn't supposed to involve memories but it did anyway." Parrish went back to typing with an approving nod.

Kevin rose from his chair, giving her a wave. "Bye Zoe. Next Tuesday, okay?"

Zoe waved back. "Talk to you then. Bye guys!" The picture disappeared. They really had been focused on memories but now that Zoe thought about it, memory-wiping was the one option Zane had mentioned specifically as not fitting all the data he had.

She purposely scheduled these Skype meetings late. All her homework done and a new plan of attack on her 'Eureka problem', Zoe had nothing to fill her time before bed. Which was a really, really bad thing. You have a puzzle-face, Kevin said. Did she? For Fargo? _Although, he is technically at the center of the puzzle that I am currently solving. That could be it._ Zoe suddenly remembered that her Dad had been all mopey on the phone earlier. Alison was staying late at GD tonight to get some reports done.

Zoe did not want a heart-to-heart with Jo until the latter cleared the air about Jo dating / being engaged to Zane. And Alison, being a scientist herself, might have some unique insight that Kevin, aside from being Kevin, did not have.

She reopened Skype and began the call before she could stop herself. Alison, while appearing to be working, did smile widely upon seeing her. "Zoe! This is a nice surprise. How can I help you?"

Trying not to sound panicky, Zoe answered. "Someone, who may or may not be your son, may or may not have accused me of having a 'puzzle-face' for someone else."

Alison tilted her head in a quizzical manner. "Puzzle-face?" Her tone was curious but, interestingly, not surprised.

"Scientists are all about problem solving. Eureka is full of scientists. When they date, they treat it like solving a multi-variable puzzle involving other people." Zoe's longer more rambling explanation did not appear needed as she saw Alison nodding. "You know?"

Alison raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think I set up Henry and Grace on their first date? You've always been observant, Zoe."

Zoe glared but with a wry grin. "Please, between how you and Dad look at each other and what I saw of Jo and Zane, well, I'd be a moron to not figure it out."

Alison moved a couple knick-knacks around her desk before asking, "Your father looks at me like that?"

Now Zoe got to give her the 'you're not stupid so stop it' look. "All the time." She gave a mock-shudder for emphasis. Alison smiled before collecting herself.

"Zoe, college is about trying new things. Sometimes that means exposure to new people who aren't what we expect."

"It's Fargo!" Zoe blurted it out. There were too many secrets in Eureka anyway. Not that she was ever telling Fargo….Or returning to town as long as this continued since she sucked at keeping totally inappropriate crushes secret. _Dad could totally come to Harvard for Christmas._

Alison's small but thankfully un-judgy voice finally responded. "Ah." She closed out the report file open on her other monitor, before turning to Zoe. "Maybe we should talk."

* * *

Somehow, between her totally professional emails with Fargo and Alison's super-reasonable explanation of Zoe becoming attached to guys from home as displaced homesickness, Zoe was able to convince herself that the whole 'puzzle-face' thing was no big deal at all. She returned home at Thanksgiving expecting a typical (for Eureka) holiday. _Big mistake. _

Instead of her dad, a serious-faced Jo met her at the bus station. She'd been politely informed that her dad was not in any danger but that "someone" at GD needed to see to her immediately. Even though she had spoken to Jo a couple of times during the semester, just until her dad got home or something, their relationship continued to be strained. Now, stuck in a car with Jo for the hour-long drive, Zoe decided she'd had enough. After the initial small-talk about college, Zoe blurted out.

"I know about you and Za-aaahhhhh!" The car jerked across the road. It was several tense seconds before Jo managed to get the car back in the right lane and keep it there.

Jo's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "Explain."

"I noticed you and Zane have puzzle-faces for one another which is like true love in Eureka. Dad tried to warn me off Zane but I didn't realize why until then. Why didn't you tell me? I'm not a poacher Jo!" It really is a testament to how good Zoe was getting at juggling the many layers of secrecy surrounding her life that she managed to answer truthfully but without revealing anything too important. That and she did so in one breath immediately after her life flashing before her eyes.

"It's complicated." Jo's voice ground out.

Releasing her death-grip on the door handle, Zoe thought for a moment. "Am I the last person to figure out the puzzle-face thing?"

Jo snorted. "Kevin doesn't know."

"Kevin is a teenage boy." Jo gave her an acknowledging nod. After a couple deep breaths, her knuckles appeared to loosen on the steering wheel. Haltingly, Jo then began to speak. "I didn't have anything to say. As far as Zane and I, I really don't know what is going on most of the time. We were-" Jo's voice broke. "We were something but it's gone, was gone long before you asked me what to do about your crush. I didn't know it was him. I don't know if I want to go through it all again and I have no idea what Zane really wants right now."

"But-" Zoe paused. Jo had been her friend, practically a sister, since the Carters had arrived in Eureka. She'd seen Jo happy at trying out new weapons, excited about new developments in security systems, gleeful at having survived/halted the latest experiment run amok. None of that compared to the look on Jo's face in the test chamber with Zane. "Jo, I saw how you look at each other when you don't think anyone else can see. He's your 'eureka' and, dude, you're his."

Jo let out a breath but neither confirmed nor denied. Thinking that they had covered enough for now, Zoe changed the subject. "Am I in trouble?"

Now, Jo huffed. "I don't think so." Seeing Zoe's eyes widen, she continued. "I don't know exactly what you were called in for but, Zoe, I've seen disciplinary hearings in the making. This isn't that. To be frank, I'm a little curious myself."

"You're sure?" Jo nodded. "Okay." Zoe felt about a hundred pounds lighter. If anyone would be able to smell a smack-down in the wind, it would be Jo Lupo. Zoe finally let herself relax and enjoyed being able to talk, really talk, to Jo for the rest of the drive.

GD remained as chrome and shiny and whiz-bang as it ever was. At Jo's prompting Zoe left her bags in the car. Her first surprise was being led into Director Fargo's office. Her second were the people present. Fargo, away from his desk, did not come over to greet her. He had positioned himself overlooking the rotunda. All those emails, Zoe only got a single acknowledging nod. Some part of Zoe went cold. _Maybe Jo was wrong_. A researcher in a med-lab coat was seated near the Director's desk. Zoe recognized her from the presentations she had witnessed a few months ago. Actually, a still-functioning corner of her brain reminded her, she was the lead on the skin-grafting lattice project that had been so useful to her GPA. By far the most intimidating attendee, General Mansfield had been the only one to move upon entry. Without preamble, he gestured to a chair across from the medical researcher & himself.

Lastly, Jo had positioned herself near the door as Zoe took her seat. Zoe knew this was a technique to prevent troublesome scientists from making a break for it. In her case, Zoe was just really glad that every time Mansfield looked over her shoulder, he saw Jo lying in wait.

"Um, what's up?" Zoe's nervousness made her voice chirpy but, their probing stares kinda freaked her out. Not to mention, she could see several scientists walking through the rotunda pause when they saw her. They quickly collected themselves and moved on when they noticed their boss, Fargo watching out the window.

It was the scientist, Dr Madeline Jillson (Zoe's mind suddenly recalled) who replied. "Miss Carter, if you do not mind, would you be willing to discuss your term paper from this last semester's course in 'Cellular Biology'?" As she spoke, Dr. Jillson removed what appeared to be a copy of Zoe's paper from her clipboard, placing it on Fargo's desk just out of Zoe's reach.

Sensing that the request was anything but, Zoe nodded. What followed was really, really strange. Dr. Jillson proceeded to go through her paper, point by point, inquiring about how Zoe came to her conclusions, what prompted her thinking along this line or that one. At one point, Zoe knew she surprised Dr. Jillson by interrupting her rebuttal with one of her own. Frankly, Zoe had surprised herself with that but she'd known where the doctor's thoughts were going and also had spent 6 hours in a Biochemistry laboratory at Harvard one Saturday learning exactly why such thoughts were wrong.

Finally, General Mansfield spoke asking a really weird question. "How much help did Dr. Parrish give you on this project?"

Zoe's response was a reflexive and thankfully truthful, "None." She drew out the end of the word into a question, very much curious where this was going.

The General regarded her skeptically. "Dr. Parrish has been allocating time on his lab computers for video conferences. Due to encryption we cannot confirm certain features about the calls, but the ISPs involved were all in the Cambridge area. Would you like to change your answer, Miss Carter?"

Zoe had worked too hard this last semester to let some General imply this paper was anything other than all hers. Suddenly not caring that this man could redact her into non-existence, she explained in a furious tone. "Kevin Blake and I have been meeting with Dr. Parrish in order to improve our critical-thinking skills. But General, I never spoke about this project to Dr. Parrish because, well, we only use him when we are stuck and I" Zoe placed very clear emphasis on the word. "I never got stuck on this." Which was oddly true. She had been frustrated and challenged by the topic but, with a bit of studying and some extra lab time, Zoe had managed to get through it.

"When did this arrangement begin?"

"Before this semester. Both Kevin and I felt –" Zoe thought for a moment. She was pretty sure Mansfield had similar interrogation training as Jo in that he would know if she lied outright. She had to be truthful but not tell the truth. "Kevin is Medical Director Blake's son. I'm the Sheriff's daughter. Sometime people" She gave Jo an apologetic look over her shoulder. "they don't really tell us what we need to hear. Science is about asking the right questions, General. But if no one helps you do that, you'll never be as good as you could be. Sure, Dr. Parrish is a grumpy-gus but he doesn't treat Kevin and me any different than regular ol' junior scientists who need a disdainful verbal smack-down every now and then to keep us in line."

Behind the General, Zoe saw Fargo nod his head ever so slightly. The General stared at her a few beats longer, before inclining his head to Dr. Jillson who smiled widely. "Miss Carter, what are your plans for this summer?"

* * *

_Zoe Carter, top-secret researcher. Holy crap. _The rest of the meeting passed like some kind of dream. Dr. Jillson departed shortly after offering her an internship to work on Jillson's project that summer, clearly impressed with Zoe's work but eager to get back to her lab. General Mansfield shook her hand in a totally non-hostile way before also leaving. Jo disappeared with a wave and supportive grin after a slightly frantic PA announcement for the "Security Director to please report to Lab 47 in Section Three", leaving Zoe alone in Fargo's office with a Fargo who still hadn't said a word to her. He remained at the rotunda windows gazing out as if staring at the scientists would make them smarter.

"I'll just go wait for Jo in her office." Fargo turned around as she spoke. "She's my ride."

Shaking himself slightly, Fargo smiled. "Nonsense." He pulled out his phone. "Larry, what am I doing this afternoon?...Okay, move the first to next Thursday. Please, like they're even ready. The extra time is a gift. The second we can do tomorrow morning first thing. Well, make it happen." As he hung up, he turned to her. "Let's get you home before your Dad sends out a search party."

Certain things at GD happened so smoothly, it only impressed you if you thought about it for a minute. For example, Fargo never once asked her which GD vehicle Jo had left her bags in. Said bags were waiting on the curb next to his vehicle when they arrived in the parking lot. In a more superstitious time and place, such acts would have been attributed to brownies or benevolent garden gnomes.

Fargo surprised Zoe with a reasonable attempt at chivalry. He loaded her bags, opened her door and not with the remote door opener she'd seen him use previously.

As they drove away from GD, Zoe wondered if Operation 'Annoy Fargo for Science' had been more successful than could be conveyed in the mainly textual medium of e-mail. After all, he'd let her face that interrogation albeit a well-intentioned one without any help and, driving her home or not, he seemed about a million miles away. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Fargo stiffened before replying in a squeaky voice, "About the meeting?"

"Yeah, being brought in by Jo. The emotional trauma of meeting with a General. I was freaked. You could have-"

Fargo interrupted, giving her a dismissive wave of his hand. "One, you regularly converse with Dr. Parrish which he regularly allows so being interrogated by Mansfield should not, and let's face it, did not prevent you from impressing him and Dr. Jillson. Two, if I would have helped then you would have lost the job."

"So you're not mad at me?" Fargo actually turned away from the road to look at her like she'd just told him that gravity would be sideways for today. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well, you were just staring out the rotunda windows the whole time."

Fargo shifted in his seat. He gave her a couple sideways looks before answering. "Um, that. Sometimes, when I'm bored or unnecessary in meetings, I stare out my office windows and try to blowuppeople'sheadswithmytelekineticpowers." At Zoe's goggling eyes, he added in a tiny voice. "Like in Scanners."

"You have telekinetic powers?"

Fargo gave a defeated sigh. "That remains unproven."

Zoe thought for a moment. "What's Scanners?" For the second time that day, Zoe found herself gripping a door handle in terror. Granted, Fargo's reaction was significantly less than Jo's but she might be asking her Dad to walk to Vincent's tonight.

"I'm disappointed. Lucas failed to teach you the proper ways of our people." Fargo proceeded to give a quick précis of the plot of the Scanners movies to Zoe who felt, ex-boyfriend or not, Lucas needed some defending.

"Exploding heads? I doubt Lucas watched them. He hated violence."

Fargo thought for a moment, then gave her a skeptical glance. "Didn't Lucas win the Battlebot competition three years in a row at Tesla?"

Zoe fidgeted. "That was for science."

Fargo snickered before replying. "I think you'll do fine at GD, Zoe."

"Really?" As they pulled into the drive, he answered with a grin. "Really really."

Zoe could have sworn that part of the forest line flickered as they parked but Fargo got out of the car before she could ask. He insisted that he carry her bags in to make up for "the emotional trauma of dealing with Generals". It wasn't until SARAH opened the door that Zoe understood.

"SURPRISE!" Her dad, Alison, Kevin, Jo, Henry, Grace and interestingly Zane all stood smiling under a banner reading "Welcome Home, GD's New Hire!". She'd stopped in the doorway, stunned. Unfortunately for Fargo, that meant he bumped into her with arms full of luggage. Her dad rushed forward, grabbing her arm before she could fall.

"Hey Fargo, think you could not tackle my daughter?" Jack Carter's tone was a rebuke but an understanding 'hey, it's Fargo' one. A blushing Fargo nodded and moved to take her bags upstairs. Zane decided to help out, giving Zoe a small nod as he passed her. The sheriff turned toward Zoe, embracing her. "I'm so proud of you! One semester at Harvard and you're already probing the secrets of the universe."

She hugged her Dad back. Even with Founder's Day and all the drama, her Dad was still her Dad and therefore, awesome. "Thanks." Over his shoulder, she saw the coffee table covered in various appetizers. Her stomach rumbled. Her Dad let her go, smiling as he led her into the living room. "I think we need to get some food into this college girl."

SARAH's voice piped in. "I've made all your favorites, Zoe. Congratulations on your new employment opportunity." Zoe grinned at the ceiling, taking the drink Kevin handed her. "Thanks SARAH."

The party turned out to be the perfect ending to a surreal day. For one, everyone was gloriously Pre-Founder's-Day-normal, acting pretty much like always. Even Jo and Zane still had a semi-hostile vibe, which at this point Zoe figured was normal for them. Dr. Jillson had mentioned that the details of the project weren't to be shared but Grace and Alison managed to give her tips for dealing with the scientists on her project team, both of them quite experienced at talking around such restrictions without violating them. Kevin gleeful where she was all zen, kept asking Fargo to repeat his recitation of the meeting eager for any clues in case such a thing ever happened to him. Jo told her to please, please always follow security protocols but she couldn't get through the request without grinning. Her dad, Henry and Zane sat together discussing something to do with an out of control robot from the previous week after each offering their own congratulations.

She was well and truly relaxed by the time she headed into the kitchen for some extra guacamole. She turned around to find Zane on the other side of the kitchen island, almost dropping the bowl in surprise. "Hey." He looked back over into the living room where a stone faced Jo watched. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." Zoe held the bowl of guacamole like a shield. Looking back on it now, she realized Zane only spoke to her when he had to, if she started it. He almost never sought her out. _Please don't be a sleaze, Zane. Jo deserves better than a sleaze._

"Could you talk to Jo for me?" Zoe blinked in confusion. "Just tell her you're okay, okay? She yelled at me for breaking things off after you went back to Harvard."

"That was my idea, and I called you."

Zane rolled his eyes. "Exactly. Just share with the rest of the class." He turned back towards the living room to wave at the still-staring Jo, who abruptly dug into her nachos. "Thanks Zoe." He sauntered away to taunt his not-fiancé/nemesis. In his place, a concerned-looking Fargo walked in carrying an empty bowl that had been full of pico de gallo when the party started.

He pointed a finger at the retreating figure of Zane. "Was he bothering you?"

Zoe scoffed. "Why does everyone assume Zane is such a jerk? Or that I'm like despondent because of a crush which is so over."

Fargo narrowed his eyes at her. "So he didn't say anything to upset you?"

Zoe tried to keep her voice down as she replied. "What would he have said? That he only dated me because I'm the Sheriff's daughter and he likes jerking around authority figures?"

"When did he tell you that?" Fargo exclaimed indignantly, moving to return to the living room and give Zane one of his infamous verbal take-downs.

Realizing something, Zoe snagged his sleeve, jerking him closer and whispering furiously. "When did he tell you that?"

"Well, um." Fargo shifted in her grip, trying really hard to not confirm her suspicions. Zoe seethed. "That punk bastard. I'm gonna kick his ass." She thought about it a moment. "No, I'm gonna tell Jo and have her kick his ass."

"Already done." Fargo sing-songed. They both turned to watch as a puppy-faced Zane approached Jo only to have her cross the room and start a conversation with Grace. Zane's expression fell even further.

Zoe faced him again. "Excellent work Fargo." He grinned down at her. "No problem." Suddenly, Zoe realized that (a) she still had him pulled towards her by his suit-sleeve, (b) the only things separating their bodies were two bowls of Mexican condiments and (c) Fargo wasn't half-bad.

"Hey guys." Her dad's voice made them both jump apart. "What's up?"

It always amazed Zoe how her Dad could sound like he totally knew what was going on and yet convincingly demanded that you explain now anyway. Fargo cleared his throat. "Nothing Sheriff. Just topping off the pico." He held his bowl up.

"And Zoe?"

"I refilled the guacamole." She held up her bowl next to Fargo's. Upon doing so, she realized that mirroring Fargo's actions was probably a tactical error. _I'll have to confirm that with Jo later._

"So, not?" The sheriff gestured between the two of them with his beer. They both looked at one another in horror. Thankfully, Zoe's horror effectively mimicked the horror of being accused of...something…with Fargo. Her ego however did smart a little at Fargo's absolute and unquestionable mortification.

He answered voice-cracking. "You'd kill me. Jo would kill me. Dr. Blake probably too. Kevin and Dr. Parrish would prank me to death. Henry and Grace would be so disappointed. Vincent may never serve me coffee again!" Fargo shuddered. "Not worth it." He froze before addressing Zoe in a now-freaked-out-for-a-different-reason voice. "Not that you're not worth it." Fargo's face changed from worried to thoughtful, panic overwhelming his mind-to-mouth filter. "Well, not right now." He gave her a semi-assessing look. "Maybe in five years, you'll be awesome."

"I'm awesome now." Zoe chided but with a smile.

Fargo gave her a thoughtful nod before facing her dad again. "In five years, she'll be sufficiently awesomER." Her dad stared incredulously at the two of them. After a moment or two, he huffed and gestured back towards the living room. "How about we get back to the party, alright?"

Zoe moved to follow her dad, pausing for just a moment. "Fargo?" His head appeared from behind the refrigerator door. "Five years?"

He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. "It's a theory." With that, he ducked back into the fridge.

She'd barely made it through the dining room when Kevin appeared, dragging her upstairs. "Come see Jenna!" At her look back towards Alison seated on the couch talking with Henry and a returning Jack Carter, he added. "Mom says it's fine."

Upstairs, Jenna slept peacefully in a pillow-and-blanket fort put together in the middle of a play-pen. Kevin flopped down next to the pen, clearly familiar with the setting. After Zoe got settled on the floor, he began whispering. "Man, that was close!" Zoe froze but Kevin continued on. "They found out about Dr. Parrish. What did you tell them about that? Fargo kinda hand-waved over it."

Zoe shrugged. "I told them that because of who our parents were we didn't get enough critical feedback so we went to Parrish for it. The General really had no idea. He thought I'd used Parrish to help with a term paper this year."

Kevin frowned. "Like it wasn't your work 'used' or maybe he told you classified stuff 'used'."

"Both." Kevin swore, rather impressively. Zoe waved it off. "Hey, it's better than the alternative."

"Only a little." At Zoe's look, he clarified. "There are few worse things in Eureka you could be accused of than stealing someone's work or breaking classified restrictions. They tried to pin both on you." He paused for a moment. "But they still hired you. Dude, you must have been more amazing than Fargo and Jo said."

"Jo said I was amazing?" She really didn't want to talk or think about Fargo right now.

"Yeah, she said you kicked intellectual butt." Kevin grinned at her. She put off answering by taking a long look at Jenna. "She's gotten so big."

Kevin wrinkled his nose. "Makes big messes too." At her good-natured glare, he added. "She's cute though." They chatted a few more minutes about Harvard, their illustrious future careers working at GD and other stuff. Although alone, Zoe could tell that tonight shouldn't be about conspiracy talk. It was family night.

"I'll be right back, okay?" She ducked out her dad's bedroom, hoping to get back to catching up with Kevin but really needing to pee.

Before she got to the open bathroom door, she heard Zane's emphatic voice coming from within. "I did nothing wrong with or to Zoe."

Zane wasn't alone because Jo's voice responded. "I know. Zoe told me."

"So, why the return of Lupo-the-Enforcer for the last two months?" Despite herself, Zoe grinned at Zane's desperate trying-not-to-whine-but-totally-whining tone. _Awesome. Got to buy Fargo a Christmas gift this year. _

Jo's voice replied airily. "Zoe told me lots of things. She said dating you bored her."

"She said what?" Zane asked in a furious whisper before adding indignantly. "I am not boring."

"Of course no-." There was a thump against the wall and what sounded like the rustling of fabric. Zoe quickly skittered away from the bathroom. While she hadn't liked-liked Zane, there were some things that were just unnecessary for her ego to hear.

Kevin wandered out of her Dad's bedroom. "I thought you said you had to use the bathroom."

Zoe shook her head. "Changed my mind." From behind her there was another thump followed by feminine laughter. Kevin attempted to move past her to go check it out but she stopped him.

"Kevin," Zoe whispered. "that way lies madness. Stairs, now."

Trying to be discreet, although Kevin didn't know why, they made it about half-way down the stairs when Henry's voice drifted up. "Did Dr. Grant say anything else about Beverly's plans?"

_So much for a conspiracy-free night. _Her dad's voice responded to Henry's question. "No, he said that's all he knew when he called for his weekly check-in."

"But you don't believe him." Alison's voice held total certainty.

Zoe could hear her dad sigh from across the room and half-way up the stairs. "I want to Ali but there's a lot he doesn't tell us unless he absolutely has to."

Grace's voice added. "Not to mention, after you all agreed to drop fixing it, well, he didn't take much convincing from this Beverly person to start meddling with a Bridge device again. According to Jack, he used it knowing what could happen to all of us if anyone found out."

"And Jo." Henry's voice added. "She heard the recording too, before it disappeared."

"Do you think he'll stay gone?" Fargo's question caused a long pause. Finally, Kevin's mom answered. "I hope so." Kevin's eyebrows shot up at her quietly harsh tone. Others in the room apparently also were surprised because Alison continued. "I know he didn't mean to but it's really…difficult to forget the fact that his actions resulted in my death."

Kevin sucked in a breath, grasping the banister. Her dad's voice echoed. "He didn't know about the wave and I fixed it." Even though it was morbid, Zoe tried to remember if Alison had been limping or showing any signs of injury before Zoe returned to Harvard after whatever it was that happened. Alison was fine, well, a few cuts and bruises from the 'car accident' but nothing life-threatening. _What had Grant done?_

"Does the General suspect anything?" Henry's question was answered almost immediately by Fargo. "No. After the DoD reviewed my report on the DED incident, they transferred the investigation back to GD and Jo because it appears an internal Eureka Security matter relating to unauthorized research within Eureka town limits not technically a security breach. He won't push me on that after he was quite so publicly wrong about getting the DED out of town."

Grace jumped in with a seemingly redundant question. "Has he noticed or commented on anything?"

Fargo giggled. "He has." Somehow he stopped several people from interrupting. "I have recently begun taking 'management training' classes on-line. I found them on my computer from Before – "Both Zoe and Kevin raised their eyebrows at the clear implied importance place on that word. "It was in case the General noticed anything, which he did." Zoe was positive Fargo gave a self-deprecating shrug at this point. "So now he thinks that the classes worked and my change is causing all of you to treat me differently and act differently."

Alison responded in an amused tone. "Fargo, that's brilliant. It also explains certain questions I've gotten from the Pentagon about the Rage-virus incident. I've tried to emphasize that you were shaken by your employees' hostility and that I thought you were trying to do better."

Henry now interjected. "So, aside from Beverly, no one has any idea, correct?" Zoe and Kevin looked at one another. _Who the heck was Beverly?_ Unfortunately, their eavesdropping abruptly was cut off by Zane bounding down the stairs as if hell followed him. Considering Jo was not with him, that was a likely option. He stuttered to halt trying to avoid colliding with the two teenagers. "What the hell, guys?"

"Dude, you have pink on your neck." Kevin gestured. Zane hastily wiped the offending smudge away, utterly failing to look sheepish about its presence. Noticing neither of them appeared surprised, Zane narrowed his eyes at them. "Does everyone know about us?" He said the last word as if he expected it to taste bad only to find that it really, really didn't.

Zoe & Kevin gave him pitying nods. Zane smirked, tilting his head upstairs. "Could you let her know that?"

Now Kevin snorted. "She's Security Director, Zane. She knows." Zane gave the upstairs a frustrated glare before muttering, mostly to himself. "Damn." And there it was again, Zane's puzzle face. Zoe could in that instant see him balancing equations and changing variables to find some way to try to make Jo Lupo make sense. Not that it would ever in a million years work.

After a few moments of this, Zane shook his head. He looked at both of them, taking in that they were tucked out of sight half-way down the stairs. "What are you doing?"

Kevin gave a nonchalant shrug. "Just catching up away from the parents."

_Wow. _For someone Zoe had never viewed as an authority figure, Zane did the 'I'm not stupid so stop it' look very well. He didn't have time to press the issue, however. Jo appeared at the top of the stairs, stiffening when she saw them all. She continued down greeting both Kevin and Zoe.

Jo finally acknowledged Zane with a "You ready?". His eyebrows went up. "You mean it?"

Jo attempted to give a nonchalant shrug. "I have to swing by GD anyway." With that she continued down the stairs. Zane freaking glowed, giving them both absent-minded goodbyes. "Nite, Kevin. Congrats Zoe."

Kevin's eyes were huge as they heard the two of them making their goodbyes. "Damn, you weren't kidding. Jo and Zane. Holy crap."

"Yep." With that Zoe decided to return to her party. Since Jo and Zane were leaving, Henry and Grace decided to bow out as well. They gave their best wishes to Zoe and were out the door. Fargo uncharacteristically offered to help clean up. Alison looked like she was about to put him to work, only to have her dad wave Fargo's offer away. "We got it. Alison did the set up and I'm cleaning. Right, hon?" Alison, taking in Zoe's position next to Fargo, gave a knowing nod.

Before Zoe could stop herself, she added. "I'll walk Fargo out while you get started."

Fargo gave her a look but made no protest as she followed him up. They exchanged a few comments about recent happenings in Eureka until they were topside. Zoe's eyes narrowed at Alison's car present next to Fargo's. On the other side of her vehicle were tire tracks. Fargo, noticing the direction of her gaze, supplied the explanation. "Light-refracting sheet. Jo's taking it back to GD." He looked up at the sky, clouds obscuring the moon. "It's a good thing it wasn't sunny or we would have had to go with Plan B."

"And what was Plan B?"

Fargo gave a wry grin. "Something involving invisible spray paint your Dad picked up somewhere."

Zoe snorted. "Bad idea. Couldn't you just park down the road and walk?"

Fargo shook his head, mock-serious. "Zoe, Zoe, you've been away from Eureka too long."

"Yeah, I kinda have." Fargo responded to her morose tone with a cheerful invitation to a few more medical presentations in the week she was home. By the time he actually left, she was feeling better. It wasn't until she flounced through the door into the living room that she remembered leaving a suspicious dad to deal with later.

"Zoe." Her dad did the drawing words out like questions thing so well. But, she knew that trick. "Dad." Looking around, she was hoping her dad could be distracted by Awesome Alison only to have him burst her bubble. "She's checking on Jenna while Kevin packs up their things."

"Oh." Seeing the trash bag in his hands, she made a show of helping him clear the party debris off the table. "Thanks for this Dad."

He smiled at her genuinely. "No problem Zoe." Her dad picked up a few more napkins before continuing, his tone probing. "So, guacamole?"

Zoe stiffened, focusing on clearing the coffee table. "It was empty."

"And the pico?" Now, Zoe huffed. "That was after." She paused, hoping to be clear. "It was Fargo, Dad."

He hesitated before responding. "A few months ago, it was Zane. That's a lot of changes. I'm just trying to keep up."

Zoe threw a pile of plates into the trash bag just a little too hard. "Zane was different. Fargo is just," She waved her hands. "Fargo."

"What about Lucas? You never-" He put up a hand. "I mean, you guys were fine and suddenly you weren't."

Zoe sighed. "That's kinda it actually." At his look she continued. "We liked each other a lot but Dad, when we got to Boston, being on two different campuses, it was so much work to re-arrange our schedules to get together. We didn't like each other enough to keep doing it, I guess. If you're with someone, you should be willing to, you know, be with them as much as possible. Outside of Eureka, we just didn't want to be with one another that badly." Seeing her dad frown, she added. "This wasn't Lucas's fault. It was both of us."

"Oh, Zoe." Suddenly, her dad was hugging her again, the trash bag dangling against her side. Things with Lucas had gone bad fairly quick after arriving in Massachusetts. It was a good thing she was busy at school. But, the sting lingered. A hug from her dad made it fade a little. "I'm okay, Dad really." Still, Zoe blinked several times as they separated.

They went back to cleaning up. After a few moments, her dad added. "So, what was up with Fargo then?"

"He let slip something about Zane but he'd made it right."

"So you thanked him, with guacamole?" Her dad wanted to ask, badly.

Zoe figured there wasn't any harm. _Besides, Zane had wanted to attract the ire of an authority figures, right?_ "Zane told Fargo he only dated me to upset you. Fargo told Jo."

Her dad grinned with lots of teeth but appreciation in his tone. "Good work Fargo."

* * *

Thanksgiving dinner was blessedly drama-free compared to that first night. In total there were only two moments of oddness. Well, one and a half. The first came when Zane was greeted by a manically enthusiastic Sheriff causing Zane to hide behind a snickering Jo.

The second was when her dad and Jo were talking and her dad let slip that he wasn't going to be worried about any apocalypses for at least five years.

Zane, who had been totally randomly listening in on Jo's conversation, frowned. He turned to Zoe asking in a smart-aleck tone. "'Five years'? Does something happen in five years?"

She answered, one hundred percent serious. "The end of the world as we know it."

Jo, interjected, giving her arm a comforting pat. "Your first year of med-school won't be that traumatic, Zoe."

Zoe made a face, avoiding her dad's eyes. "Um, of course not." She quickly changed the subject after that.

The next day, she descended into GD heading for Dr. Parrish's lab. Kevin had informed her at dinner the previous evening that Dr. Parrish wanted to see them. Which was a total lie. They simply hadn't had time to update Dr. Parrish on what all they overheard. Unfortunately, Zoe got waylaid by a weeping red-headed scientist. She hadn't meant to get involved but, the woman had been beside herself with her latest test failure. Zoe figured helping someone get their sciencey groove back would appease Dr. Parrish as a reasonable excuse for being late.

Zoe knew something was wrong the second the door opened. Kevin stood fidgeting and, contrary to all precedent, alone in Parrish's lab. As soon as the door shut all the way, he let loose. "Dude, I'm sorry. I had no idea that he'd freak like that!"

"What are you talking about?" Kevin explained that he'd given Dr. Parrish a brief run-down on what they had overheard at her party, only to have the man flee shortly after.

As Kevin finished, Zoe asked the question they were both thinking. "Did he figure it out?"

Kevin nodded. "He sorta zoned-out for a second, then bam!" Kevin slapped his hands together. "He was off. He totally figured it out."

"Do you think he just was thinking so fast that he forgot to explain?" Zoe knew how scientists could be.

"Maybe." Kevin shrugged. "He shouted for me to stay here until he got back."

After a little more discussion, they decided to give Dr. Parrish an hour and then, they were going 'Scientist-Hunting'. They both pulled out homework in the meantime, every now and again comparing notes on assignments.

It was an hour and a half later when Dr. Parrish returned with a stern-faced Fargo in tow. Zoe and Kevin both shared a look before focusing on Dr. Parrish. Although he made a show of fiddling with lab equipment before addressing them, his voice was anything but casual.

"Children, I have arranged a special demonstration with Director Fargo. Thank you Mr. Blake for giving me the idea. He will take you there."

With that, Fargo stepped forward. "Get your things. We won't have time to come back here today." Zoe thought about demanding to know what was going on. She would have too if she hadn't recognized the looks on Dr. Parrish and Fargo's faces. Their expressions resembled Jo's for Zane to keep quiet all those months ago, causing Zoe to really truly worry.

They both packed their backpacks without protest. Dr. Parrish did not speak to them again. He merely informed Fargo that he would perform "those checks we discussed while you're gone". Fargo, in that weird part-demanding part-begging way of his, led them out to his car.

They drove for about an hour, ending up at a signal array outside the shield. On a map, it was labeled "NOAA Rural Weather Station". Oddly, after parking the car Fargo instructed them both to walk to the center of the circular grouping of satellite antennae.

Kevin, who had been abnormally silent up to now, spoke first. "How long was my mom dead?" Zoe knew the revelation from the party had left its mark on Kevin. All during Thanksgiving, he'd been staring at Alison and offering to help with Jenna so often that his mom had given him more than a few funny looks.

Fargo sighed. "Not long. And not at all technically." At Kevin's attempt to interrupt he continued. "It's complicated, way more that usual. Just be glad the Sheriff is who he is and know that it won't happen again." Fargo's voice now possessed some of its old coldness.

"Because Dr. Grant isn't here to do it again?" Zoe couldn't help herself.

Fargo fidgeted before responding. "Parrish provided some welcome detail about your investigation. You both discovered a lot and nothing really. I didn't bring you here to explain what happened."

They both interrupted then. "That's not fair!" and "It's our parents, dude." rang out accusingly.

Fargo kinda shrunk into himself a little. His voice hesitant but Zoe knew that tone well. It was a classic Eureka scientist's 'I-may-have-contributed-to-this-disaster-but-I-am-still-telling-you-the-truth' tone. "This is bad and really, super dangerous. We made a decision to keep this quiet. It was your mom's idea." He gestured to Kevin. "I am not going to go against Dr. Blake and the Sheriff on this. They've been too –" Fargo stopped and restarted. "I won't go against their decision."

Kevin scoffed. "You couldn't have told us that at GD?"

It was Zoe who answered. "If they want it secret? Please, there's recording devices all over G-oh." Fargo nodded. Zoe's mind whirred. "You're the one that informed the General I was skyping with Dr. Parrish. Why?"

Fargo shrugged. "Dr. Parrish has made my time as Director quite interesting with his pranks. I pay very close attention when he's up to something. At first, I merely thought he'd outsourced the responsible parties to allow him an alibi."

"And?" Fargo looked entirely too ashamed for that to be all.

"When the General mentioned your paper as an explanation for the skyping with Parrish, I knew you were too smart for what he implied Zoe. I just," Fargo wrung his hands at the next words out of his mouth. "I didn't know if you knew you were too smart for what he implied."

Zoe vibrated in place so furious she could barely breathe. Kevin thankfully had her back. "You thought – Doctor Parrish would never allow that, not even to embarrass you! And, more importantly, Zoe isn't like that! She and Jack don't need experiments that way the rest of this town does! "

Kevin probably would have said more, except Fargo looked at her. Like he remembered her staring up at a screen full of dancing proteins. Like he remembered the exact reverent tone she had used to recite the town's name. Zoe got it. All semester she'd thought about every out-of-control experiment in this town and for the first time, didn't believe all the scientists were crazy people who knew lots of math and made really bad decisions. Because those experiments hadn't been about results, project due dates or unreasonable expectations. They had always been about chasing that 'Eureka' moment no matter the cost. Zoe also now understood how Fargo could, without moving a muscle, convince Generals that he was right. Because faced with that gaze, Zoe could not as a scientist acknowledge the truth of it. "He's right."

Kevin turned to her furious. "You did not cheat!"

"No, I didn't." She directed that to Fargo. "But, Kevin, dad and I, we do need to fix things, to- ."

"Solve problems." Fargo smiled at her, conspiratorial and pleading for apology. Zoe nodded looking away from that understanding half-grin as Fargo continued. "I knew the second Zoe responded to Mansfield's accusation that I was totally off-base. Yay." Fargo gave his fist a wave. "But, um, I know what hedging to avoid getting into trouble sounds like Zoe. And you're explanation about why you needed Parrish was absolutely hedging. Truthful hedging but still."

"So, you were gonna shut us down no matter what." Kevin bit out the words. "Henry's been right all these years. Free scientific inquiry has been totally usurped by the mil-"

"Do you love your mom, Kevin?" Fargo asked.

Kevin and Zoe frowned at each other, familiar enough with how scientists use non sequitors to be very suspicious of answering. "Yeah, she's my mom."

"Is she easily frightened? Intimidated? Scared?"

"Hell no."

"Then why did she not want anyone, including the DoD to find out what happened? Why did Jo-The-Enforcer-Lupo, Sheriff-Carter-the-Invincible and Zane-Donovan-the-Rebel all agree with that assessment?"

Kevin froze, mouth open. Zoe's blood ran cold. As many times as she'd voiced the thought over the course of the last several months, Fargo's bland repetition of the situation terrified her much more thoroughly than her own musings ever had. Judging by the dawning comprehension on Kevin's face she wasn't alone either.

While Mansfield only tolerated Fargo and barely allowed Zane's presence, he clearly respected Jo, and considered Alison and her Dad more than competent. There would be no basis for hostility on the General's part towards them if they got caught up in someone else's (ie – Zane or Fargo's) experiment gone wrong. After all, most of what her dad and Jo do is sort out other people's disasters. Being involved in one by itself would not ordinarily be enough to get them into trouble.

"You bastard." Kevin ground out, now shaking. "What did you do?"

Fargo blinked, head tilting. "Do?"

Zoe held up a hand, extending her fingers as she recited. "Positronic lightening. Cerebral-nanobot interface. Speed drug juicing."

"That time in the place with the thing which we promised not to discuss but, dude I'm really close to bringing it up again!" Kevin added, surprising Zoe because Fargo not only understood but began nodding.

"Ah. While I admit, my projects do tend to..have unexpected results, this was not an experiment. It-"

"Man, if you say 'just happened' I'm gonna snap." Kevin's voice rose with indignation. "Scientists may not mean everything to happen that happens but they always mean to do something! Shit does not 'just happen' in this town!"

Fargo spread his hands apologetically. "This did. There's no one to blame, guys. This happened, no one meant anything or was trying anything."

"Then why would the DoD care?"

Zoe's question got a wordless and nonsensical (to her) reply from Fargo. Apparently though, Kevin understood. "Holy shit. The McFly Protocol?"

Fargo squeaked, eyes widening. "How do you know about that?"

Kevin shrugged, trying to look calm but Zoe had known him long enough to see the tapping of his left foot for what it was. "Something Dr. Stark mentioned once to Mom. He sometimes kinda forgot I was around when they had their talks."

"Excuse me?" Zoe raised her hand. "For those of us not raised in Eureka, what is the McFly protocol and why is it named after the character from 'Back to the Futu-Oh."

"Exactly." Fargo hesitated, weighing his options before he continued. "Your parents need to keep you away from this. I am not going against that guys. So, keep up appearances with Dr. Parrish but drop it, okay? Because we may need you later and we need you to be untouched by this."

Before Kevin could argue further, Zoe voiced a suspicion she'd harbored since mid-October. "They're going to find out." It wasn't a question but Fargo answered with a nod anyway.

Kevin swayed a little in response. His wavering voice still held accusation when he finally spoke. "You could stop it. You're the Director. You're in charge of-"

"No, I am not." The harshness of Fargo's tone stopped Kevin mid-sentence. "I'm a patsy but I'm tolerated by the DoD for its own reasons and this town because I'm the least bad patsy available." He glared at Kevin for being forced to voice the truth. Which, even with the seriousness of the situation bugged Zoe. She'd spent the better part of two months trying to get just such a rise out of Fargo to no (apparent) avail. Kevin did it in a couple hours.

"Why didn't it work?" Zoe didn't even realize she'd said it aloud until she noticed the other two looking at her expectantly. She directed her answer to Kevin. "You did it." She waved in Fargo's direction, sighing in defeat.

Despite that fact that their parents could be disappeared any moment, Kevin grinned. "Score for the Blake-man!"

"What the hell guys?" Fargo looked between the two of them.

It was Kevin who answered. "We were attempting to see if we could cause your old personality to resurface by angering you. Zoe hadn't had any luck at it."

Fargo frowned. "But we've just been emailing work stuff. And discussing favorite 'American Idol' contestants. Unless you count our debate about favorite Simon one-liners, you didn't even try to enrage me."

Zoe couldn't let that stand. "I disagreed with everything you said! I mocked your authority, your research and you. He said it would work!"

"Well, it didn't!" Fargo taunted back. "'He' is Doctor Parrish, right?" At their mutual silence, Fargo's grin took on a predatory quality. "I see. Please inform Dr. Parrish that his list is an abject failure. That will be vengeance enough I think."

"You think?" Kevin's eyes narrowed.

"For now, yes. He's had a rough day."

Zoe couldn't let that uncharacteristic benevolence stand. "You weren't annoyed, ever? Not even a little bit?"

"Nope." Fargo annunciated the last syllable with unmistakable glee.

"Damn it!" Fargo gave a slight frown at her expletive but cut off her apology. "Don't worry, I'm used to my employees plotting my melt-downs. Not that I'm your boss."

Zoe snorted. "No, you're the boss of my boss's boss." Fargo spent a moment disassembling and interpreting that sentence before responding. "True."

"Guys, focus! Emails aside, what about Founder's Day and our parents!" Kevin was clearly past his victory over Zoe on the 'Annoy Fargo' front.

Fargo sighed. "Look, I'm not discussing it further. You need to be clean for when the DoD comes looking for scapegoats. I like the Sheriff and Dr. Blake too much to jeopardize that."

Zoe shook her head. "But why exactly? What are we supposed to do when General Mansfield collects our parents? I mean, we aren't going to just sit by and let it happen. Alison and Dad can't be dumb enough to think Kevin and I would ever do that!"

"Trust me." Fargo continued at their skeptical expressions. "Trust your dad and your mom and Jo and Henry and Zane to-"

Kevin interrupted uncharacteristically furious. "The McFly Protocol only has one response Fargo. There's no room for trust."

Fargo did not break eye contact with Kevin as he answered. "Exceptions have been granted before. The General won't listen to you, either of you. Unless you want your mom sanctioned-"

"I know what sanctioning means Director! I did, originally, have a dad you know! Or are the non-exceptional cases uninteresting to you?" Kevin's tone harsh but considering how rarely he even acknowledged that he had a birth father understandable.

Fargo oddly showed no surprise at this revelation. His matter a fact reply calmed Kevin down considerably. "Before my time. Above my clearance level. And, totally not the same situation."

"Can you prove it? That it's different from him?" Kevin asked shakily.

"Thanks to your mom – easily." Fargo's absolute confidence erased Kevin's fury. Somehow, in a flash he was back to the easygoing teenage super-genius Zoe thought she knew well. Fargo continued as if Kevin hadn't just revealed a major family secret. "In a way, it's good Dr. Parrish now knows. Between him & Zane, the General will have more than enough evidence of our unique circumstances."

Zoe, eager to participate in the conversation again, couldn't resist pointing out a key fact. "The General hates Zane and barely tolerates Doctor Parrish."

Kevin frowned, thoughts shaking free of his emotions. "Then why are they still in Eureka? He's always threatening redaction when things don't go his way."

"Threaten, yes. But how many scientists has he actually redacted?" Fargo's smug tone told them the answer.

In her head, Zoe mind replied in Dr. Parrish's voice. _That's not the right question._ "Why does he keep them around?" Now that she thought about it, she couldn't think of a single scientist, not even one responsible for deaths, who had been redacted. Transferred to a different department or given crap projects, yes. Redacted, no. For all the times he'd threatened Zane, even when Zane had in fact been guilty the General hadn't returned him to prison. Why would the General not redact people with poor judgment and the skills to end the world?

"That is an excellent question." Apparently, Fargo could do the Elder-Scientist-Eyebrow-Raise-Of-Impressed-Satisfaction-In-His-Minions as well. For the first time since entering Dr. Parrish's lab Zoe felt normality seeping back into her life. "Since you two are so awesome at inferring conspiracies from minimal evidence, how would you like a new assignment?"

"But you caught us." Zoe blurted out.

"But I know you. The General doesn't." Zoe frowned. Aside from the e-mails this semester she had almost never interacted with Fargo Before. He apparently realized this and clarified. "We knew each other better Before." Zoe goggled, an action Fargo mistook. "Not like that, friends, sorta. You actually helped me plan my first date for my girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Not here. She's currently married to an astronaut and totally unaware of my existence." Although Fargo had aimed for breezy recitation of the facts, he kinda missed that target. As Zoe tried to wrap her brain the idea of Fargo dating without her brain deciding that it liked the idea, Fargo brought them back on task. "So, new assignment. Interested?"

Kevin, obviously eager, tried for nonchalance. "What's the pay?"

"One, extorting your parents' freedom, as well as hopefully my own, from a United States General. Two, helping solve a mystery which has bothered every single GD Director since the DoD took back control of the town in the mid-eighties."

Zoe couldn't speak for Kevin but it was honestly the easiest decision she'd ever made.


End file.
